July 17, 2018 — Father Andrij M. Hlabse, SJ, was ordained to the priesthood in the Byzantine Rite at St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in Parma, Ohio, on July 15 by
Bishop Bohdan J. Danylo.

“Thanks, in the first place, are owed to God – who made me, called me, and, above all, sustained me with his faithful love through the various stages of our lengthy formation,” said Fr. Hlabse. “God has been utterly faithful to the trust I have placed in him walking this path on which he called me.”

Photos by Yevhen Gulenko

Fr. Hlabse, a member of
the Midwest Province Jesuits, grew up in the Cleveland area, where his family
attended St. Josaphat in Parma and St. Basil the Great, a Latin Rite parish in
their hometown, Brecksville.

“My heartfelt thanks go to my family, my first teachers in the faith,
and to my Jesuit formators who helped me to learn the Jesuit way of life,” said Fr. Hlabse. “I also give thanks to our
benefactors who made possible the various studies and experiences that will
enable me to live my priesthood in a truly Jesuit way.”

Fr. Hlabse graduated
from Saint Ignatius High School in Cleveland, where he first began to discern a
vocation to the Society of Jesus. He earned a bachelor’s degree in music
performance as a jazz saxophonist and in romance languages and literature at the
University of Notre Dame. During college, Fr. Hlabse performed regularly as a
professional musician, was involved in liturgical ministries at the Basilica of
the Sacred Heart on campus, and assisted with liturgical music at Notre Dame’s
Log Chapel.

In 2006, Fr. Hlabse
returned to Saint Ignatius as part of the Alumni Discernment and Volunteer
Program, working in Christian service, campus ministry, and the jazz and
liturgical music programs. He entered the Jesuit novitiate at Loyola House in
Berkley, Michigan, in 2007.

Fr. Hlabse earned a
master’s degree in philosophical resources at Fordham University in the Bronx,
New York, in 2012 and was next missioned to Saint Ignatius College Prep in
Chicago. During his time there he taught Spanish and religion and served for
two years as a liturgist in campus ministry.

Missioned to Rome in
2015 to study for a Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree at the Pontifical
Gregorian University, Fr. Hlabse served as director of the choir of the
International College of the Gesù at the Church of the Gesù and ministered as a
deacon at Sts. Sergius and Bacchus, a Ukrainian Catholic parish in Rome.

Fr. Hlabse will next
begin a licentiate in patristic theology at the Pontifical Oriental Institute
in Rome.

“Among
the chief blessings of the Jesuit vocation is that I will spend my life helping
others to recognize and live God’s call through sacramental ministry,
intellectual research, and spiritual direction,” said Fr. Hlabse. “Thanks be to God
that I am blessed not only to live this call myself but to help others do the
same.” (Photos by Yevhen Gulenko)

August 21, 2018 – As we reckon with the Grand Jury report on sexual abuse by priests in Pennsylvania and the failures of bishops to protect the children entrusted to their care, our hearts and prayers—first and foremost—are with the victim-survivors.

January 17, 2019 — Let us pray in thanksgiving for the life of Fr. Eugene F. Merz, SJ, who was called to eternal life on January 16, 2019, around 5:30 a.m. Gene died at Zilber Hospice in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. He was eighty-seven years old, a Jesuit for seventy years, and a priest for fifty-seven years.

January 16, 2019 — It was a homecoming fifty years in the making. In 2016, Fr. Casey Bukala, SJ, moved to the Colombiere Center near Detroit, where elder Jesuits live in community, receive the healthcare they need, and pray for the Church and the Society. It was not Fr. Bukala’s first time at Colombiere, however.

January 9, 2019 — Let us pray in thanksgiving for the life of Fr. John “Jack” R. Crocker, SJ, who died on Tuesday, January 8, 2019, at Colombiere Center in Clarkston, Michigan. He was 88 years old. May he rest in peace.